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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25533472">A Duelist's Lament</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoomedKelpie/pseuds/DoomedKelpie'>DoomedKelpie</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Yu-Gi-Oh! GX</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bullying, Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Poetry, Self-Harm, Suicide, Suicide Attempt</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2016-01-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 08:42:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,576</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25533472</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoomedKelpie/pseuds/DoomedKelpie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What will Judai do when he finds the diary of another student at Duel Academia?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Poem</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>This is the poem I wrote and based the story off of. It repeats in the next chapter, so you can just skip this if you want.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I may believe in my cards,<br/>
But there are some duels cards can’t help you win.<br/>
I can’t let myself fall apart,<br/>
So I bury it deep within.</p><p>I wish I could duel to fix my life,<br/>
But the world is not a game.<br/>
So every day and every night,<br/>
Everything stays the same.</p><p>A toxic touch and misery,<br/>
Will make me fade away.<br/>
And all of my victories,<br/>
Won’t be good enough, he’ll say.</p><p>The cards may be my friends,<br/>
But I have no one else.<br/>
And although I may pretend,<br/>
There’s no one who’ll save me from this hell.</p><p>A stinging red caused by a blade,<br/>
And another by a hand.<br/>
I have to do as he says to be saved,<br/>
And listen to his commands.</p><p>They all think they know it all.<br/>
They think I’m just a creep.<br/>
They hurt me until I have to crawl,<br/>
But still think they’re the sheep.</p><p>I can’t keep going on like this.<br/>
I’ll let my soul and cards go free,<br/>
And then, maybe, I’ll find some bliss,<br/>
Where no one can hurt me.</p><p>It’s clear I’m worth nothing,<br/>
Even if I win every duel.<br/>
Everyone else is worth something.<br/>
Why is the world so cruel?</p><p>I know I have to end it.<br/>
I can’t take this anymore.<br/>
The voices are never quiet,<br/>
So I’ll have to close the door.</p><p>I may believe in my cards,<br/>
But I no longer believe in a happy life.<br/>
I can’t let myself fall apart,<br/>
So I’ll end it all tonight.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The actual story.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As Judai was making his way back to the dorm, he found a small book lying on the ground. He picked it up and saw that it was a worn-out notebook. He flipped the cover open to see if the owner’s name was on it. As he did so, a piece of paper fell out and fluttered to the ground. He picked it up and read it:<br/>

I may believe in my cards,<br/>
But there are some duels cards can’t help you win.<br/>
I can’t let myself fall apart,<br/>
So I bury it deep within.</p><p>I wish I could duel to fix my life,<br/>
But the world is not a game.<br/>
So every day and every night,<br/>
Everything stays the same.</p><p>A toxic touch and misery,<br/>
Will make me fade away.<br/>
And all of my victories,<br/>
Won’t be good enough, he’ll say.</p><p>The cards may be my friends,<br/>
But I have no one else.<br/>
And although I may pretend,<br/>
There’s no one who’ll save me from this hell.</p><p>A stinging red caused by a blade,<br/>
And another by a hand.<br/>
I have to do as he says to be saved,<br/>
And listen to his commands.</p><p>They all think they know it all.<br/>
They think I’m just a creep.<br/>
They hurt me until I have to crawl,<br/>
But still think they’re the sheep.</p><p>I can’t keep going on like this.<br/>
I’ll let my soul and cards go free,<br/>
And then, maybe, I’ll find some bliss,<br/>
Where no one can hurt me.</p><p>It’s clear I’m worth nothing,<br/>
Even if I win every duel.<br/>
Everyone else is worth something.<br/>
Why is the world so cruel?</p><p>I know I have to end it.<br/>
I can’t take this anymore.<br/>
The voices are never quiet,<br/>
So I’ll have to close the door.</p><p>I may believe in my cards,<br/>
But I no longer believe in a happy life.<br/>
I can’t let myself fall apart,<br/>
So I’ll end it all tonight.</p><p>“Is this… serious?” Judai questioned aloud.<br/>
He flipped through the book and found that it was filled with diary entries and sketches. He skimmed through a few and found that the diary entries backed up the poem. He flipped back to the front.<br/>
“Otonashi Mitsuki…,” Judai read. “Crap! I should find him before he does anything!”<br/>
With that, Judai ran off to find the owner of the diary.<br/>
After asking around, he found out that Mitsuki was dueling with another student. He entered the dueling area just as the duel finished.<br/>
“Aw, man, the weirdo won again!” a student complained.<br/>
“Creep!” said another.<br/>
Judai looked at the boy they were glaring at.<br/>
He had messy black hair that stuck up in random directions, clearly unbrushed. He wore a blue jacket, but it was wrinkled. His gray-blue eyes were dull.<br/>
Judai started to walk toward the boy, but Mitsuki ran past him before he could say anything.<br/>
“Hey! Wait!” Judai yelled before running after him.<br/>
Mitsuki glanced behind him for a second. When he saw he was being followed, his eyes widened in fear and he sped up.<br/>
“Can you stop running?!” Judai yelled.<br/>
This, of course, just made Mitsuki run even faster. However, after only a few minutes, Mitsuki slowed to a stop, breathing hard from exertion. Judai stepped closer to him, and the boy flinched.<br/>
“L-Leave me a-alone,” he stuttered out.<br/>
“Whoa, calm down,” judai said as he held out the book. “This is yours, right? It was on the ground.”<br/>
Mitsuki slowly turned and took the book. When he saw the look on Judai’s face, he took a step back.<br/>
“…Y-You read it,” Mitsuki whispered.<br/>
Judai nodded.<br/>
“Parts of it. I was trying to find who the owner was,” Judai answered. “Are you… really serious about it…?”<br/>
“That’s n-none of your business…,” Mitsuki replied.<br/>
“You can’t do that!” Judai yelled. “What are you thinking?!”<br/>
“I don’t h-have to explain it to y-you,” Mitsuki argued. “Leave me alone.”<br/>
“I can’t just let you die!” Judai retorted<br/>
Mitsuki turned away and ran.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I honestly completely forgot I had started writing another chapter of this story. And now here we are in 2020, and I’ve decided to tack on a few sentences to this incomplete chapter just to give it a crappy ending. Well. </p><p>Anyway, I know this story is pretty bad, and even when I first posted it on Fanfiction. net, I only got bad reviews on it (although the complaints were pretty much just one person getting on my back for it being too short), but I hate leaving things unfinished without 'officially' discontinuing them, so I'm just finishing this up.</p><p>All but the last few sentences were already written, so.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Judai knew he couldn’t just pretend he didn’t know anything and let the boy kill himself. So, once again, he ran after Mitsuki, hoping he could figure out some way to convince him to stay alive. However, this time, Judai ended up losing sight of Mitsuki in a large crowd of students. After a few minutes of unsuccessful searching, Judai decided to find his friends so they could help him. They proved to be a lot easier to find than Mitsuki, considering the fact that he found them after only 2 minutes.<br/>
“Hey! Guys!” Judai called out to them.<br/>
“Aniki? Is something wrong?” Sho asked when he saw the look on his face.<br/>
“I really need your help with something,” Judai told them.<br/>
“With what?” asked Misawa.<br/>
“I found this notebook, and the owner wrote that he was going to kill himself in it, so I went to find the guy. I ended up having to chase after him, but now I can’t find him. I’m worried he’ll actually do it,” Judai explained quickly.<br/>
“What?!” Sho gasped.<br/>
“Alright,” Misawa said, clearly taken aback by the unexpected problem. “First of all, we should go tell a teacher. In the end, they’ll probably be able to help more than us, and they should have an easier time tracking him down. Who is it that we need to find, anyway?”<br/>
“Otonashi Mitsuki…,” Judai answered.<br/>
Misawa nodded.<br/>
“Let’s alert a teacher, then,” he said.<br/>
And with that, they rushed to find a teacher. Professor Cronos was the first one they found.<br/>
“Professor Cronos! We need to talk to you!” Judai yelled urgently.<br/>
“I’m busy at the moment, drop out boy,” the teacher replied disdainfully.<br/>
“Professor Cronos, it’s extremely important,” Misawa chimed in.<br/>
The teacher, being more generous toward someone in Ra yellow than Slifer red students, turned toward them.<br/>
“What is it?” he asked, clearly thinking it was something ridiculous or insignificant.<br/>
“A student might be planning to kill himself,” Misawa explained seriously.<br/>
“WH-WHAT?!?!” the surprised teacher exclaimed once he comprehended what had been said. “Who?!”<br/>
“Otonashi Mitsuki,” Judai repeated.<br/>
“You,” Cronos ordered as he pointed at Sho. “Go explain the situation to the Chancellor.”<br/>
With that, Professor Cronos exited the room, with Judai and Misawa following behind him. As they continued searching for Mitsuki, Sho informed the Chancellor, who sent a message out to the school’s teachers. Before long, they found Mitsuki hiding in a tree near the Obelisk blue dorms.<br/>
“Otonashi! Climb down this instant!” the teacher demanded.<br/>
However, Professor Cronos’s harsh tone clearly didn’t help the situation, seeing as it only made the boy look afraid. And once he saw Judai standing next to the teacher on the ground, Mitsuki immediately knew why Cronos was looking for him. Now seemingly terrified, Mitsuki climbed higher up in the tree until he was dangerously high, and it was hard to spot him from behind the foliage. Realizing that the boy wasn’t going to listen to him, Professor Cronos turned to Misawa.<br/>
“Tell the Chancellor that we found Otonashi, and that we need some form of assistance to get him down,” he ordered.<br/>
With a nod, Misawa ran off toward the school. However, as the minutes stretched on as they waited, Judai grew increasingly antsy. So, he decided to climb the tree.<br/>
“Judai, get back here!” Cronos ordered.<br/>
Judai, however, ignored him and kept climbing up the tree until he came close to Mitsuki.<br/>
“Mitsuki!” he called out.<br/>
“Leave me alone!” came the panicked reply.<br/>
“Come on, man, we’re trying to help you!”<br/>
“I don’t want your help!”<br/>
Seeing as he was getting nowhere, Judai climbed even closer.<br/>
“Stay away from me!”<br/>
In response, Mitsuki climbed even higher.<br/>
“Mitsuki, stop!” Judai yelled. “It’s dangerous to climb that high.<br/>
And, sure enough, the branches beneath Mitsuki began to creak. Before anyone could do anything or even register what was happening, the branch broke, and Mitsuki plummeted toward the ground.<br/>
“NO!”</p>
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